Stephen t



Patented May 9, |899.l S. T. WILLIAMS.

CARD RECORD.

(Application led Oct. 25, 1898..)

2v Sheets-Sheet I.

{No Model.)

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(no Model.)

` Paten'ted May 9, |8\99 4S. T'. WILLIAMS.

CARD RECORD;

(Apncntion med oet. 25, lesa.)

n: uonms PETERS ccAPNmmLITHo. wA-smuoau o c .NiTnD STATES PATENT OFFICE.

STEPHEN T. IVILLIAMS, OF NEV YORK, N. Y.

CARD-RECORDQ SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 624,597,dated May 9, 1899.

Application filed October 1 8 9 8.

i To a/ZZ whom t may con/cern.-

x a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the borough ofManhattan, in the city of New York and State of New York, have inventeda new and useful Improvement in'- Card-Records, of which the followingisa specication.

In the tab-card system of indexing or recording on cards filed in adrawer or box the cards when in place are-usually distinguished eachfrom the other by what may be termed and will be hereinafter referred toas index characters, and which may be letters, numorals, or othercharacters or words printed or written on one side only of portions ofthe cards projecting from their upper edges and called tabs A completeset or series of these cards may and usually will consist of severalgroups, each group comprising a certain number of cards numbered or4 inany way indexed consecutively to form one complete index.

It is frequently the case that both sides of a card are required forrecords. In that case the card when removed from its group must loeturned over by the hand, and after the records have been made it must beturned back again in order that the index character may face therecorder or Searcher. If the card have only a single tab inscribed onthe back with the same index character as, that upon the front of thetab, whenever the card 'is reversed as to face and back, but withoutreversing top and bottom, the tab will occuy a different position in theindex order from its former one and disconcert the Searcher. lThisdisarrangement of index order by such reversal of a card is unavoidablewith any card group or series bearing but one index of consecutiveletters or numbers. If every card of such a group is reversed wheneverthe consecutive order of the index characters on the, back of the cardis consulted, the card must be taken from its place and turned over forinspection and turned back again when restored to its place in the file.The motions involved in this taking out and turning over consume time,and when many hundreds or thousands of cards are to be handled in a day,whether by one person or many, the wasted time and energy become a verysensible quantity. An y Serial No. 694,520. (No model.)

attempt to remedy this fault has been made in which the backsof thecardsare so ruled that records on the back begin at the bottom of thecard and proceed upward, the intention being to enable inspectors toread the backs as Well as the fronts without removal from the file.Practically the plan is a failure, the inspector being obliged to bendhis body or neck into unnatural positions to read the back of the cardat all and obscuring the light necessary for rendering the recordslegible in a card-lilo. Again, with all tabcard indexes or recordsheretofore used in drawer or box files only the person in front of orfacing the iile could conveniently read .the index characters and usethe file at one time.

This invention has for its object, first,- the saving of wasted motionsand time in reading and handling such card-indexes or recordcards, and,second, providing for or facilitating the lin g and inspection of suchcard-records, &c., by two or more persons at the same time.

I effect my purpose by providing two index` tabs upon the same edge ofeach card in a group, these tabs, which I term twin tabs, being' in thesame relative position measured from the two ends. or two opposite edgesof the card and so positioned that upon reversal of the card side forside and back for front the twin tabs exchange places in the indexorder. I indite the same index character upon the face of one tab andupon the back of its twin tab preferably in inks of different colors forthe front and back of the two tabs. My object in using different-coloredinks for this purpose is to have the changed color inform the inspectorthat the card has been reversed and that there are records on thereverse side. `Otherwise the inspector who 'wishes to know how muchmatter has been recorded and if the reverse side has been used mustremove the card from its file and turn it over to ascertain theinformation..

To more fully explain the invention, I have illustrated it by drawings,in which- Figure/l is a perspective view of a box or drawercontainingthe three groups of cards having my twin tabs. Fig. 2 is a perspectiveview of a single group of such cards separated a little way aparttoillustrate more clearly what I call the twin-tab system. Figs. 3 and 4are respectively front and back views of the same one of the cards shownin Fig. 2. Figs. 5 and 6 are respectively front lviews of a card,illustrating a modilication. Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a` group ofcards, illustrating another modification of my invention.

Similar letters of reference designate corre` sponding parts in all thefigures.

Referring first to Figs. l, 2, 3, and 4, in which d d are cards, eachhaving on its upper edge the pair of tabs b b', which I call the twin7tabs, equidistant one from one side edge and the other from the otherside edge of the card. Ten of these cards constitute a group. The upperedge of each card may be considered as divided into twenty spaces,fro1ntwo of .which project the twin tabs, which on the front card of a groupare in the spaces next the side edges and have inscribed on them thenumerals l l and on the next card are in the next spaces and haveinscribed upon them the numerals 2 2, and so on to the tenth spaces,which are inscribed with O 0. The said numerals from l to 0, countingfrom one side edge, are on one side of the card, which may be consideredas the face, and those counting from the other side edge are on theother side of the card, which may be considered as the back, as may belinderstood by reference to Figs. I and 2, wherein the numerals countingfrom the left are represented in fulloutline and those counting from theright in dotted outline and reversed as though seen through the card.The faces of the tabs or the numerals thereon should be distinguishedfrom the backs of the tabs or the numerals thereon in some way-as, forexample, the numerals on the face and back Vmay be of different color,as may be understood by reference to Figs. 3 and 4, the tabs being ofthe same color as the body of the card on both sides, or the faces ofthe tabs may be ot one color and the backs of another color, as may beunderstood by the shading of the tabs in Figs. 5 and 6, the numeralsbeing of the same color on both sides of the card.

The different groups in a series may be distinguished one from the otherby different colors of the tabs regardless of the similarity ordissimilarity of the index colors on the two sides of the tabs, as maybe understood by reference to Fig. l, where the tabs of the three seriesaredifferently shaded toindicate differences of color. While Ipreferably apply this indexing to the upper edge of the card, I mayapply it to one of the side edges, as illustrated in Fig. 7. In thatcase the box or drawer in which the cards are filed should be ofskeleton form or open at one side to permit viewing the index and thewithdrawal and replacement of the cards in a lateral direction.

It is plain that in one complete group of my twin-tab system havingevery tab indexed as desc bed such group will contain duplicate indexesupon a single edge, one complete index reading from the front of theiile and the other complete index reading from the back of the file atthe same time. In this system no two tabs in a complete consecutiveindexgroup will lie one behind the other; but every index character on itsface or on its back may be read at the same time by persons placed infront or at the back of the drawer or other receptacle containing theled cards.

A com plete group in my system is thus seen to possess duplicate indicesupon one edge instead of a single index, as in the old system'. Acomplete group of my cards pre* sents the same consecutiveindexcharacters whether viewed from the back or front.

In practice when the face of a card of my system has been filled byrecords and the back of the card is required for additional records theoriginal position of the card is reversed side for side and back forface, the right-hand twin tab thus exchanging place with that on theleft and presenting to the inspector at the front of the file aduplicate of the index character shown on the former tab in its properindex order. The changed color of the index character notifies theinspector of reversal of the card. The records last made-on the card arethus at once seen by the inspector at the front without the neces-A sityof removing the card from its iile and turning it over. The index orderis not disturbed, and the index characters can still be read in theirproper order from the rear, as before.

In the old and single-tab system if the index-tab should have the sameindex character inscribed upon its back the card could not be soreversed, because its tab would fall out of its proper indexed order andconfuse the liler and Searcher.

It is obvious that the twin-tab system of indexing is not confined tothe decimal numeration of the indices, but that the indexing may be bythe days of the week or the months or the letters of the alphabet and,in fact, by any index character that may be suitable, according to thenature of the record which is to be kept. Y

Vhat I claim as my invention is- 1. In a group of index or record cardsor sheets consecutively indexed in opposite directions, twin index-tabsprovided upon one edge ot' each of such cards or sheets, so positionedthat by reversal of a card side for side and back for front, the twintabs are caused to exchange places in the index order, substantially asand for the purpose herein described.

2. A group of index or record cards each having upon one edge two tabswith the same index character inscribed upon one side of one of saidtabs and upon the opposite side of the other one, substantially as andfor the purpose herein described.

3. A reversible index-card having on one roo IIO'

edge tWo index-tabs bearing one on its face l and another coloron thebaokof the card, suband the other on its back corresponding instantiallyas and for the purpose set forth. dex-signs and having the faces of theindex- In testimony that I claim the foregoing as tabs distinguishedfrom the backs thereof by my invention I have signed my name, in pres- 5different Colors, substantially as and for the .ence of two Witnesses,this 21st day of Octo- 15 purpose set forth. ber, 1898.

4. A reversible index-Gard having on one STEPHEN T. WILLIAMS. edge twoindex-tabs bearing one on its face Witnesses: Y and the other on itsback corresponding in W. L. MURRAY,

1o dex-signs which are of one color on the face CHAS. J. EVERETT.

